Intel Core i7-980X Extreme: Hello, Six-Core Computing

[envolva]

It would be a incredible waste for me, but I still fell a itchy when I see this 32mm six core processor. Knowing I can swap the i7 920 for one of these is not helping either.

 

[Guest]

Great Chip, Pity you did not have 2x5870 at hands to benchmark, Guru3d, Anadtech, Firing Squad all used one 5870 as well so you could have had a win there as well..

Good article, still love GURU for extreme reviews though, hell they had the guts to OC it to 4.4ghz and bench, but overall good article!

Now off to the surgery to sell a kidney!!

 

[a4mula]

Great article. For business apps it's clear that the Gulftown is a winner. That being said I can't help but feel vindicated in my choice of 1156 for gaming. The final remaining reason to buy into X58 (for gaming) has been erased, just as I predicted months ago.

 

[lordcrazex]

Phenom 965 has got only 4 core and is still doing pretty darn well compared to the latest Intel's hexa-core...
I'm betting Phenom X6 is gonna be one tough competitor to it..

Those who would like to spend the extra $800 would be pretty silly & wasteful for not reading this review...

 

[seerwan]

[citation][nom]cangelini[/nom]I hear you there gkay...I used to do more with GTA IV (not sure how prolific FS X still is), but it just depends on how many folks still want to see it. As a *general* rule, $1,000 CPUs aren't going to do much for your high-res gaming. However, it's a good point that there are a couple of titles notorious for hitting graphics far less than host processing power![/citation]

I also agree with Gkay, Chris; NONE of the games have taxed the CPU at all, I feel.
The primary purpose, I feel, is that you should have tried games that are notorious as "Processor-busters" (or whatever), requiring highly-clocked and multiple cores on the CPU.
GTA 4, i think, is the CPU-equivalent of Crysis; Crysis, the GPU Killer, u did that test, showed us that theres no improvement; more graphics are required.
Then you didn't do a CPU test with GTA 4.

Quite disappointed.

It would have been great for you to push the CPU and find its limits. Everything u've thrown at it, it's done with ease; agreed, hard to find the limits, its a great processor. However, you tried with Left 4 Dead?... :s
Come on! Please edit the article and add GTA 4, with at least 2 more extremely CPU-taxing games.

Thanks.

 

[masterasia]

My i7 920 overclocked can probably beat this thing on most of the benchmarks. I'm not impressed. I wanna see what AMD's Phenom II X6 can do.
The i7 920 is still the best bang for your buck. My current rig should last me a few more years before I have to do an overhaul on it. I was thinking of doing a Gulftown build, but after reading this article, it's not worth it. I rather put my money in a GTX 470 and i7 930 build or a nice "L" lens for my Canon 5D Mark II.

 

[seerwan]

[citation][nom]moricon[/nom]Great Chip, Pity you did not have 2x5870 at hands to benchmark, Guru3d, Anadtech, Firing Squad all used one 5870 as well so you could have had a win there as well..Good article, still love GURU for extreme reviews though, hell they had the guts to OC it to 4.4ghz and bench, but overall good article!Now off to the surgery to sell a kidney!![/citation]

I fully second Moricon; you’ve told us that it’s great for gaming by pairing it with a mid-level GPU Solution… you don’t know how fast the Ferrari is till you take it on a looooong highway and take it to the Top Speed…
Please redo the graphics benches with an ATI 5970 or 2x5870’s CFX, with CPU-raping games!

Finally, (when it releases) do compare the AMD Phenom II X6 with this CPU with CPU-demanding titles, and both having the same awesome graphics solutions, such as a 5970 or 2x5870’s CFX.

Thanks, Chris.

 

[rambo117]

when do i get to run my system on my graphics card?

 

[iam4ncsu]

FYI your print link is wrong, need to change url to review_print vs News_print

 

[warezme]

For a gamer like me it seems a better idea just selling out my two 295+'s and investing $1000 on upcoming Fermi architecture GFX, and leaving my old OC'ed 920 in place would be the better deal.

 

[blacksins]

[citation][nom]randomizer[/nom]Maybe because in the few benchmarks the Phenom II won, it won by less than 2%. It's hardly worth making a fuss over. Also, in case you didn't realise, this happens to be an article about the i7 980X. The Phenom II article is a bit older, maybe you should go look for it if you're after comments about that chip.[/citation]
then why they compared it to the AMD ?? to see our comments.. anyway if some gamer went for the 6 core now then he have some extra cash in his pockets, i meant it's really not necessarily now don't you think? a 4-core will do it for now.

 

[Computer_Lots]

Just an observation, but wouldn't it make more sense to bench using the best available GPU config? I mean, whoever buys this CPU will most likely have a pair of 5870 or 5970s. Maybe that would show more of a difference in the gaming benchmarks instead of the same exact results across the board, obviously limited by the GPU power.

 

[brennon7]

MORE BENCHMARKS WITH 3 MONITORS, forget this single monitor stuff.

 

[techguy911]

[citation][nom]footsoldier[/nom]wow wow..6 cores already!! Truly is the fastest now. AMD, do keep up!![/citation]

Actually they are up to 100 cores you can buy server class cpu's from amd that have 12 core but it is pricey.

This computer has 4 cpu sockets, each chip has 12 cores:
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-TYAN-AMD-OPTERON-6174-G34-48-CORE-MAGNY-COURS-/270529337772
This is the fastest computer you can buy IF you have the money lol.

The 100 core cpu's wont run windows but will run multi-apps or linux.

 

[saint19]

Well, Intel always do the 1st step and in this case isn't the exception now will see the AMD's reply to that i7-980x, that, like I see is very hard to defeat.

Another point, if the i7-975 is around $980 or more (impossible budget for me), What will be the price of that monster?, the only positive way that I see in this launch is that, AMD and the i7 series will drop her prices a little.

 

[jonpaul37]

looks like the Deneb can hold its own whilst consuming less power...

 

[konjiki7]

The processor has great performance in certain segments but it doesn't offer enough of an improvement to be worth purchasing.

 

[itadakimasu]

both intel and amd have had 6 core cpu's out in the enterprise lines for a while now.

I'm happy w\ my AMD Athlon II 620 @ 3ghz... $99 and runs anything I've had to run.

 

[acadia11]

Would be nice if you included the 860 and870 in your benchmark, I bought 860 because well it's a we bit better than the 750.

 

[techguy911]

[citation][nom]itadakimasu[/nom]both intel and amd have had 6 core cpu's out in the enterprise lines for a while now.I'm happy w\ my AMD Athlon II 620 @ 3ghz... $99 and runs anything I've had to run.[/citation]

Actually its 8 and 12 cores now.

 

[tsnor]

[citation][nom]a4mula[/nom]Great article. I can't help but feel vindicated in my choice of 1156 for gaming. The final remaining reason to buy into X58 (for gaming) has been erased, just as I predicted months ago.[/citation]

Guess you think having the two full X16 bandwidth PCIe slots and both SLI and crossfire support on the X58 is erased.

Aside: I agree with your choice of 1156, but I ended up with socket 1366 because HP is selling refurb X58, i7-920 full systems w/ win7 upgrade for under $600 shipped at ubid. I got two for kids.

 

[hundredislandsboy]

Yup. As previous posters have said, if you're mostly a gamer, don't waste your cash. AMD stayed even in the game benchmarks and costs a fifth of what they'll charge for this CPU!

 

[tsnor]

[citation][nom]techguy911[/nom]Actually they are up to 100 cores you can buy server class cpu's from amd that have 12 core but it is pricey.This computer has 4 cpu sockets, each chip has 12 cores:http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-TYAN-AMD-O [...] 0529337772This is the fastest computer you can buy IF you have the money lol.The 100 core cpu's wont run windows but will run multi-apps or linux.[/citation]

lol. fastest computer? Check out a roadrunner. 12,960 IBM PowerXCell 8i and 6,480 AMD Opteron dual-core processors. Roadrunner generates 444 Megaflops per watt of energy and it isn't even the biggest anymore, the last cray went past it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Roadrunner
http://www.hpcprojects.com/news/news_story.php?news_id=1007

 

[sohei]

8 cores/12 threads... anyway you can build a dual socket i7 920 8 cores/12 threads platform which is better than 980 and you remain with almost half of the money in your pocket...and about power consumption :
2 i7 920 must work 4 years non-stop in full load to consume the difference in money of i7 980
in 4 years i7 980 will be just a piece of metal with no value

 

[xybercoke]

What I would like to see is multi tasking results. Seeing how running multiple apps or a game and apps affects performance, i know for myself that i never only do "1" thing on the computer. So tests showing 1,2,3,4,6,8,10 apps at the same time, and see at which point it really starts to affect performance